Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
The journal Materials China (ISSN 1674—3962) is intended for international and domestic Chinese materials scientists, focusing on China‘s latest research results and hotspots in the field of materials science. It covers extensive collection of original research papers, literature reviews and research news with important guiding significance in materials science and engineering, especially new materials‘innovative and applied research. Lots of experts and scholars herein get together to build up a stage for various performance show of materials research in China, and lay out the blossom of the materials industry. What follows is a summary of our key expectations of editors, peer-reviewers and authors.
For Editors/Editorial Office:
1. The editorial staff should respect the author‘s academic independence and academic point of view, keep the author‘s habits of expression, writing style, and data integrity.
2. The editorial staff should treat the contributions equally, not be affected by the author‘s race, creed, gender, age, qualifications and other effects.
3. The editorial staff should complete as soon as possible the editing process of the manuscript, and inform promptly as required the author the results of the manuscript processing. Efforts should be made to meet the needs of authors and readers.
4. The editors should make comprehensive analysis of the reviewers‘comments, positively communicate with the authors. The areas of dispute should be promptly reported to the editor-in-chief / executive vice editor-in-chief and related editorial staff, without delay.
5. The editorial office and editors shall not disclose the manuscript‘s evaluation experts‘ information and treatment advice to any institution or individual.
6. Without the author‘s permission, the editors can not apply any unpublished information and materials into their own research. If the contributions involve with the editorial staff‘s current or former work or have conflict of interest, avoidance system should be implemented, and the manuscript should be processed by other editorial staff.
7. If the content or conclusion of the published manuscript is found wrong with evidence, the editorial office and editors should help to publish statements for correction, corrective statements can be written by the person finding the errors or the author. As a result of the Editorial staff‘s responsibility, the editorial office will release correction, clarification or apology.
For Peer Reviewers:
1. In receipt of the review invitation of the editorial office, the reviewers / peer review experts should make timely response at the appointed time, and, in particular, do not take undue delay if unable to act as review experts.
2. Having agreed to participate in the paper review of the editorial office, the reviewers / peer review experts can use the user name and password assigned by the editorial office to log m.sinnocapital.com to enter the online editorial system, but may not release the user name and password to others.
3. The reviewers / peer review experts should give timely comments or suggestions on the reviewed papers according to their areas of expertise. If professionally unfamiliar with the article or only able to assess sections of the article, the reviewers / peer review experts need to inform the editorial office in a timely manner for instructions.
4. The reviewers / peer review experts should respect the author’s original ideas with objective and constructive comments, and should not perform injurious, defamatory or derogatory view of the author due to the reason of nationality, religion, gender or other factors.
5. The reviewers / peer reviewers shall not disclose any details of unpublished data or conclusions during the review of the manuscript or use them for self-study or give to another person or institution.
6. Other academic misconducts are with reference to the Copyright Law of the People ＇s Republic of China and the standards for defining misconducts of Chinese academic papers” by CNKI.
For Authors:
1. Submissions must be original works that are not published, with concise title, clear viewpoints, reliable data, adequate demonstration, realistic conclusions and smooth text.
2. Manuscript review results should be notified to the author within 15 working days, during this period, multiple contributions are forbidden. If be found, manuscript shall be rejected, with notification to related journals in the field.
3. Once the manuscript is accepted after reviewing, authors should submit to the editorial office the confidential review form issued by their affiliation, manuscript modification description and other relevant certificates and documents.
4. The authors take whole responsibility for the points of views in the manuscript. The editorial office has rights for standardized processing of editing and publishing the manuscript. If necessary, with consent of the author, substantive content changes can be implemented.
5. The author should declare any potential conflicts that could be considered or viewed if necessary, and notify promptly the editorial office if a significant error in their publication is identified.
6. Once the manuscript is published, it indicates that the authors have recognized the copyright vested in the journal Materials China (including Internet copyright). When conducting exchanges or cooperation with database or index system at home or abroad, the author will no longer be consulted for views or paid with extra remuneration.
Principles for dealing with Malpractice
Misconduct and unethical behaviour may be identified and informed to the editorial office at any time, by anyone with sufficient information and evidence. All allegations shall be taken seriously by the editorial office until final conclusion supported by solid evidence is reached through investigation.
·"Copyright Law of the People ＇s Republic of China", ·"Regulations for the Implementation of the Copyright Law of the People ＇s Republic of China", ·"Standards for Defining Misconducts of Chinese Academic Papers" by CNKI associated with Tsinghua University), ·Other related regulations of the Ministry of Education of the People ＇s Republic of China, the Ministry of Science and Technology, General Administration of Press and Publication, China Association for Science and Technology. Once confirmed, all actual misconducts and unethical behaviours shall be remedied according to the related laws and regulation.
Misconduct and unethical behaviour may not be limited to examples as outlined above. The following national laws and regulations are strictly enforced in the daily work of the Editorial office.
For editors or reviewers / peer review experts in violation of the relevant state laws and regulations, the editorial office will abolish their qualifications of the editors or reviewers and stop hiring, while preserving right of pursuing the legal responsibility.
For authors in violation of the national copyright laws and related regulations, the editorial department should promote a timely correction. For serious academic misconduct with severe adverse effects, the editorial office shall never accept the author’s manuscripts and report to the national authorities and request the corresponding legal responsibility.
Materials China
Tel: 029-86226599
Fax: 029-86282362
E-mail: rml@c-nin.com
Website: m.sinnocapital.com
Mailing address: 96th, Weiyang Road Xi’ an, Shaanxi 710016, China